Many people have a 401k plan at work that they've built up over the years. When you quit or leave your job for any other reason, there are a couple options you have. You can keep your funds in the old employer's account, move it to your new employer, or transfer it to a 401k rollover account. For many reasons, the 401k roll over could be your best bet.

Today, it seems that everyone is more nervous about being laid off and having to find a new job. Using a 401k rollover is a good way to at least make sure you have some control over your retirement accounts. Yet the rollover, also called a Rollover IRA or self-directed IRA, is not very well understood.

The 401k roll over account is just a new account into which you move the 401k funds you accumulated with your previous employer. Then you can take over management of the funds instead of your previous employer's management company. All you need to do is open a new account with a broker you choose. They give you all the proper paperwork to transfer everything from your previous job. If you don't take any withdrawals from your account, there are no penalties or taxes.

You have four main options when you leave your employer, as to what to do with your 401k account. They are:

1) Cash your savings. Beware: if you cash out your account prior to your statutory allowance, you will pay taxes and penalties! 2) Stay with the retirement plan from your previous employer. this is hands off, but risky because you can't directly manage your account. 3) Transfer the balance of your prior retirement account into the retirement plan offered by your new employer. 4) Open a 401k Rollover IRA account with another broker or mutual fund of your choice, and transfer all retirement funds into that account.

Choosing #1 is not a good idea unless you are in serous, dire financial difficulty. Choices #2 and #3 are conservative, hands off type decisions. Only #4 will give you a new chance to really build up your account balances for retirement.

When your retirement funds are managed by an employer's plan, the options you for investment vehicles are more limited, usually to a couple large funds, a few international funds to provide diversification, along with a money market fund. You have fewer opportunities to shift your funds during market changes into into investment vehicles that provide a higher potential return.

In a 401k Rollover IRA with a new broker, however, you can now manage your own account actively. You get access to thousands of mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, bonds and anything you could invest in with a regular individual brokerage account.

Your opportunity to profit within a self direct IRA is much greater. For example, if your employer's plan is returning an average of 8%, yet you are able to achieve higher returns with investments of your choosing, say as much as 12%, with a $50,000 account, that means you could retire with an account more than double the balance if you'd have left your account with your employer's plan.

The possibilities of growing your account by switching your retirement account into a 401k rollover, can make a huge difference for you financial future.

When you are switching jobs or retiring, the Rollover IRA opens a window of opportunity for you, widening the range of investment choices for your retirement assets hitherto not available in the employer-sponsored plan. The self-directed Rollover IRA empowers you to construct and manage a mutual fund portfolio to boost the growth rate of your retirement savings.